The tumultuous event of the unexpected and sudden takeover of Afghanistan as well as the American abandonment of Kabul has catapulted the already fragile structure of world politics into further chaos. As the world media is spinning in frenzy, the focus is once again on the brutality of the Taliban. A mix of propaganda based on Taliban’s earlier mistakes of 1996-2001 has brought media attention towards Islam once again and global media’s long held default position towards spreading more Islamophobia. This is unfortunate and avoidable. We plea to the American media that often bases its opinions on certain key think tanks to validate assertions which are firstly, false and secondly, contribute toward legitimization of aggressive actions towards countries that actually pose no threat to the United States or Europe. Stemming hate speech and hate scholarship is a collective responsibility of the global community.

The UN Secretary General His Excellency Mr. Antonio Guterres in his September 2020 document titled United Nations Strategy and Plan of Action on Hate Speech said:

“Fighting hate, discrimination, racism and inequality is at the core of United Nations principles and the Organization’s work. It is enshrined in our founding Charter, in the international human rights framework and in our collective efforts to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals. Hate speech, including online, has become one of the most frequent methods for spreading divisive and discriminatory messages and ideologies. This is why I launched a United Nations Strategy and Plan of Action to counter this poison. The Strategy embodies a commitment by the United Nations to step up coordinated action to tackle hate speech both globally and at the national level. It responds to the worrying growth of xenophobia, racism and intolerance, including anti-Semitism and anti-Muslim hatred, around the world”.

If one observes carefully, it is easy to discern that in the post 9/11 world, the Islamophobia industry in the Western nations targeted many countries of the Muslim world and injudiciously imposed its wars of aggression which have already taken millions of lives. Due to the structural aspects of global geopolitics, many governments of the 57 predominantly Muslim countries remained mum and even jumped on the bandwagon of the so-called war on terror, which in reality became a war of terror against their own people. This was justified through the spread of Islamophobia in which Islam was impugned to be intrinsically violent and Muslims particularly prone to violent behavior. All this has no real basis yet many around the world have bought such nonsense for the last two decades.

This type of scholarship is categorized as ‘hate scholarship’. Hate scholarship is the worst form of hate speech because as opposed to occasional outbursts on social media, this wears the garb of social science analysis which legitimizes the dubious claims of corporate media. Elsewhere in the West also, but particularly in the US, there are many think tanks whose purpose is no more than to grease the wheels of corporate media whose view and plans for global geopolitics are dangerous for large portions of humanity. Out of the Washington, D.C. think tanks, Hudson Institute (HI) is leading in this type of activity which can be justifiably called ‘hate scholarship’, hence comes under UN radar of spreading hate speech. This must be taken notice of and put an end to for the sake of inter-civilizational harmony and world peace.

Most recently, just before and in the aftermath of the US exodus from Afghanistan, researchers from HI had vehemently supported continued US occupation of Afghanistan. These scholars include prominent figures such as Hussain Haqqani, H.R. McMaster, Rebecca L. Heinrichs and Russel Mead. It is sad to see how a high profile think tank spends so much money on subjugating important parts of humanity in the quest of US dominance of the globe.

It is noteworthy that in the past HI has acknowledged its misconduct in other areas of research and policy pressure activities. In 2016, New York Times accused HI of wrongful and unethical lobbying for an 11 billion dollar nuclear-powered aircraft carrier deal in which a naval officer was allegedly paid by Huntington Ingall Industries and the HI platform was used without informing House Armed Services committee. Similarly, HI was involved in a campaign against organic farming because it receives large donations from anti-organic farming companies such as Monsanto. These activities of HI are relatively less alarming on the global level because as bad as they may be, they do not justify imminent war and aggression, as does its current obsession with fanning the flames of Islamophobia which has directly misled many governments to the detriment of the global Muslim community. The spread of hate scholarship in the name of free speech continues to poison bilateral, multilateral and global relations. The Muslim world has perhaps the largest geographical and demographic spread across the globe. Wrongfully vilifying almost two billion people around the world who are present in every global enclave is a recipe for disaster.

In 2008, HI’s Paul Marshall criticized OIC’s joint effort with the UNHRC against those who blaspheme against the Islamic sacred sources and spread Islamophobia in the name of suppression of dissent. In 2011, HI’s Nina Shea wrote the same, arguing that if the US or the world community refrains from engaging in Islamophobia, it will delegitimize freedom of expression. In 2014, Nina Shea and Mark Durie of HI reiterated that talking of Islamophobia will criminalize dissent. Considering American behavior in world politics, it should be the global Muslim community that should be worried about dissent and not those who drop bombs on innocent people and convince their republics with quack scholarship on Islam and Muslims.

It is our contention that HI’s systematic propaganda is harmful for the Muslim populations around the world because it is based on hatred and ill will for Muslims and their beliefs.

The UNHRC should set up an impartial inquiry. Upon finding evidence, Hudson Institute should be reprimanded, shut down and its scholars and associates engaged in hate scholarship should be put on the UN blacklist.